The Indian Train lingo...

As a kid, I remembered asking a lot of questions from around the world to my dad, and I must say he answered most of them with a lot of patience especially with the amount of "whys" and "hows" I used to bombard him with :)

However, there was one question I always asked but never got a concrete answer, for the obvious reason. That was, why the trains (mainly the local EMUs) in Mumbai hoot in a certain rhythm at times? Was that done to indicate an accident? A faulty engine? A boorish railway line crosser mowed down?
The answer to this age-old question of mine was published in the Times Of India(TOI) Mumbai edition one fine Sunday!


Supposedly, every driver who undergoes the training is taught the lingo amongst many other things before he gets behind the wheel.


So, the next time you hear the engine driver honk in one of those tones, you know what's happening, thanks TOI! :)